


Only Hope Of Survival

by xxSamuraiPrincess26xx



Category: Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29149644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxSamuraiPrincess26xx/pseuds/xxSamuraiPrincess26xx
Summary: One can always find warmth even in the darkest and coldest of times.





	Only Hope Of Survival

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all my dearest friends and readers! I have decided to bring you another Fantastic Four story! This is pretty much an extended version of Chemistry 101. With this story, I used the movie, novel, and graphic novel for help. I will list what parts came from where at the end of the story. I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Fantastic Four.

Only Hope Of Survival

Cold.

It was so cold.

Shackled to a chair with needles piercing his skin.

The chemical being injected in seemingly endless amounts.

Every second the blue in his skin grows darker.

Reed Richards continued to slowly freeze.

The frost became heavier.

His body became weaker.

Every time he tried to move it felt like he was breaking a bone causing short but agonizing pain.

But with his jaw frozen shut, he was unable to scream.

Unable to move or speak.

Barely able to breathe.

Reed wondered how much longer he would be able to survive the "ice cold vengeance" as his captor called it.

The only thing keeping him alive was the only sense of warmth he had.

The thoughts of her.

Just a few hours ago, Reed and Sue had spent time in the planetarium where they had talked everything out after two years of being apart.

He admitted that he was the one that was wrong and that there was nothing complicated, he was just too nervous to commit to her.

There were no variables.

There was no math.

It was just the two of them.

The fact that Sue had admitted to waiting 10 minutes outside Reed's door hoping he would find her proved that even more.

The freezing scientist made another attempt to move, his reward being another round of painful chills coursing through his body and a reminder of how smart his captor was.

He knew that when rubber is superheated, it softens and becomes more malleable and if it's supercooled, it freezes and breaks. The latter being proven to Reed via his finger being sadistically bent back, causing the first feel of agony which his captor clearly enjoyed seeing.

After another hour of fighting the liquid nitrogen, it got to the point where Reed was forcing himself to stay awake.

Death was catching up to him and although he was accepting that this would be his resting place, the freezing scientist did not want his final thoughts to be him losing the battle.

As the frost grew heavier causing his limbs to become more rigid and his awareness freezing away, making him delirious, the freezing scientist used his last bits of consciousness to keep the memories of Sue alive in his mind.

Her touch.

Her scent.

Her voice.

The longing look in her eyes when she told him that she wanted him to be the stronger man which proved that she still loved him.

The look in her eyes when she playfully told him to find her.

The chuckle she gave when he kissed her invisible nose.

The way she touched his face before they…

Reed blacked out before he could finish his thought.

. . .

After Reed passed out, the only sounds that were heard were the hissing of the cooling unit he was hooked up to and the sound of sinister chuckling.

What the freezing scientist was unaware of was that his old college rival (and captor) Victor Von Doom had been watching him the entire time.

Victor had this entire night planned out and as much as he didn't want to, he had to wait until he was sure that there would be no interference and the chances of his rival being rescued being slim. But he was also aware that once a certain someone found out that Reed had been taken, that person would know exactly where to look and who the culprit was.

The thought made him smirk because given the time that had already passed, Victor knew that Reed would either be dead or on the verge of death should someone try to rescue him.

Until then, Victor would relish the face that he was finally smarter than the unconscious man in front of him. All he had to do was outsmart Reed and everything after that would be no problem.

It was also clear that before blacking out, Reed was doing everything he could to try to fight the liquid nitrogen by shifting his thoughts over to someone else.

And Victor knew exactly who that person was.

Slowly rising from his chair, Victor walked over to the freezing scientist and placed two fingers on the side of his neck checking for a pulse. Slow and weak, but it was there. Instead of turning away, Victor looked at the finger he had cracked earlier and immediately got an idea. With his fingers still on the side of Reed's neck, Victor wraps his other hand around his jaw and gently tilts his head back, smirking as Reed's pulse started increasing almost immediately. Before long, painful groans were heard, letting Victor know that Reed was awake.

Removing his fingers from Reed's neck but still keeping his frozen jaw in his grip, Victor silently watched Reed attempt to shake off his hand.

In Victor's eyes and mind, this was a "long time coming" for Reed. He had taken everything from him…publicity, money, the woman he was going to share his life with…everything he spent his entire life working to obtain.

Ignoring Reed's agony, Victor tilted his head back further, which increased his struggle to breathe…that Victor noticed but also ignored.

Reed had hoped that his reaction would convince Victor to release his face, but since it was clear that his reaction did nothing and with the liquid nitrogen making him more delirious, along with the added stress by his struggling to breathe, Reed was now convinced that in just a few minutes his death would arrive.

"You took everything from me! You ruined my life!" Victor snarled, sliding his hand down to Reed's throat and giving his neck a quick but rough pull, forcing his head back down.

"To be perfectly honest, I would have loved to make your death quick and easy, but I thought this would be more fun." He continued while once again grabbing Reed's finger and bending it back, enjoying the cracking and his rival's failing attempts to scream.

After what seemed like many days, Victor finally let up on Reed and returned to his chair in the darkened corner of the conference room.

. . .

With the additional torture having come to an end and the fact that he was still alive, Reed went back to his thoughts about Sue, determined to make her the final thought before the liquid nitrogen took his life.

The planetarium.

How she held his face when they kissed.

He loved her so much and now Reed wished that he could see her or at least her voice one more time.

"Click…"

Once again, he couldn't finish his thoughts because for the first time since arriving here, Reed didn't feel the coolant and the endless cold was being replaced.

A familiar touch on his face that moved to his chest and then down to work on the shackles.

She was here.

Even though he couldn't actually see her, Reed knew that she was worried and scared immediately after seeing him in this state and was trying to get him out as quickly as she could.

Still unable to move his limbs despite the liquid nitrogen no longer trying to take his life, Reed managed to force his jaw open to say his rescuer's name.

"Sue…"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Now here are the notes I promised:
> 
> The planetarium portions I got from the movie and the novel.
> 
> The part with Victor was inspired by a panel in the graphic novel (which in all honesty wasn't very great.)
> 
> With all that said…
> 
> Please rate and review!


End file.
